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OK I give up too easily what now?

Like 6 games and I only won once online.
I must've switched over 6 teams over the course of the game.
Despite understanding the basic rules of the game I seem to be stuck in a rut.

I need a TV1000 that doesn't seem so fragile that losing like 2-3 to injuries in the first half seems very unlikely.
Cause I really cannot be arsed to carry on playing when that happens in the first match. That's just my lazy nature. It ain't fun, and I'm probably wasting both my and the opponent's time prolonging it.

Also, tried dwarf. Gods they're so slow. I felt like I'm boring myself and my opponent when I play these guys. And when they're 2-0 behind, it's as good as 'Let's just bash and forget about scoring.'

The nuances of the game seems to be lost on me. Like, starting formations, kick direction. I hope I get it in the long run, but right now I'm just mucking about.
I understand how to get 2 die blocks but seem unable to plan 2-3 steps ahead. Stuff just happens as it goes along. The latest game won was against a Dark Elf team with no rerolls as Elf - I'm happy but I felt that my opponents is probably playing a badly designed team.

Well, yes, because you're suddenly playing human beings and not the AI. Human beings are a lot sneakier than the AI, and capable of coming up with a lot more surprises. Plus, it's not a very good AI in the first place, even for a simple AI. It doesn't take advantage of the differences amongst the teams, and it doesn't watch the clock. So you're going to get beaten a lot starting out.

It's worth reading bbtactics.com to get a feel for things. Also there are simple things to keep in mind, like always try to leave a man or two back for cover rather than getting sucked towards the ball, and always do the moves first that don't require a dice roll, and count how far it is to the line so you can make sure your player can get there next turn. Nothing worse than realising you stopped one square too soon.

First of all: don't give up! The first few matches can be tough. You might consider playing a bit of the single player: the AI is pretty terrible compared to a human player, but it gives you a starting point, and I think (haven't really played it myself) that the campaign mode is an OK introduction to various types of play.

Elfs are a good team, but they can be pretty fragile. For starting out I'd probably recommend orcs - they're strong, very tough and can even throw the ball a little bit if it comes to that.

As usual bbtactics.com has some good advice on starting rosters - I'd recommend the first one from here but the others are fine too.

For starting position, I'd say go for something like this - left for receiving, right for kicking. Depending on your roster the players might be a bit different, and there's an argument for putting your linemen on the front when kicking so your black orcs don't get hit, but the basic position's fairly sound. A few things to think about are: will your opponent have to make a dodge / blitz one of your players out the way to get into your half, have you left anyone in position to be pushed into the crowd with frenzy, do you have enough movement to get to the ball when it lands...

For kicking, I'd pick up the kick skill on your first lineman to get a level, and until then just aim for the middle of the pitch to minimise the chances it'll go out of bounds and let your opponent give it to one of his players.

If you're not familiar with the concepts it'd probably be a good idea to read up on cages and the 2-1 grind as these are two tactics orcs will use a lot.

There's also an RPS challenge league where I understand there are some friendly types who'd probably be willing to give you some pointers while you play.

As Pres and totally chainsawhands and not the other one said (especially the bits about bbtactics.com, really fantastic site). Elves are surprisingly difficult to coach, for my money the best starting teams (in order) are:

Orc, who come with most the basic stuff and are cheap, strong and survivable

Dwarf, as above only very slow, who will teach you everything you need to know about moving and blocking but can be quite dull to play

Undead, who are like the Orcs but with more flare and less starting skills

Human (for a real baptism of fire), who can do a bit of everything but not really very well

i think i'll grind some more with humans.
Kinda ok with 4 blitzers team at the moment.
My Blitzer leveled up, I gave him Dodge so I could peel off easier from marking.
Hopefully I made the right decision. Will play again tonight.

i think i'll grind some more with humans.
Kinda ok with 4 blitzers team at the moment.
My Blitzer leveled up, I gave him Dodge so I could peel off easier from marking.
Hopefully I made the right decision. Will play again tonight.

Just to note, Humans are a difficult team to play well. It takes a player of some sophistication, skill and, dare I say it, ruggedly handsome good looks to get the most out of them. Especially starting out.

They don't have the bashing capability of the heavier teams and they most certainly don't have the agility of the lighter teams. Of the top tier teams (there is an explicit 3 tier ranking system) they are the statistically weakest in terms of win percentage. So just understand that it is a slight handicap to take them.

Dodge was a good pick on your Blitzer, but on regular skill rolls you want to be looking for Guard. Guard is the great equaliser in the bashing game as bashier sides (ie teams with regular ST4 players) will be looking for killer skills to go with their natural strength and tend to neglect the support play.

Catchers are very bad players - grossly overpriced by any metric you want to use, but they have got Move 8 which makes them helluva fast and that can often take opponents by surprise, charging into their backfield to harass the ball carrier.

you've got to float like a butterfly against bashier sides, standing off - on defense don't engage until they make a mistake - whilst attacking don't cage as you'll get bogged down, use a mobile screen move your slower opponent around the and then punch a hole to flood through once you've drawn him thin or he's over committed to one side. Against agility sides you've got to sting like a bee - cage up on offence and get in their faces on defence, but leave a mobile player or 2 unengaged so you can deal with any attempts to run players into your backfield.

I named my four Chaos Warriors in the Divisions of Death Tank, Hammer, War Face*, and Professor Brian Cox
Professor Brian Cox proceeded to get +str and +mov in his first two skillups, and far outstrip the other chaos warriors. Comedy names work.

*(before the game - I believe they may in fact have named the game after my player)

damn rats. I got one blitzer crowd surfed and got perma 1 AV loss in a hard fought 1-1 draw.
That and a missing lineman for the next match. I decided to buy a catcher to have some speed in that game.
I really hope the rematch is kinder. I'm surprised I didn't kill a single rat in that game, at turn 14 I bashed like half of his team to the injury box and they still survived without perma-damage.

lost the rematch 2-1
i think i was too tired off work and let him in with a TD on turn 3.
sunday shifts does that to you.
and the ogre failed his stupid rolls during the first half, can't remember what he did at all.

it ended 2-0 half time and i was considering bashing and just forgetting about winning.
except turn 12 we wiped a quarter of their team and my blitzer scored a touchdown for his 16th SPP.

2-1, really wanted to equalize, then the weather changed to rain and pickups are hard with our thrower injured and out of the game (he was out on turn 5) when the lineman failed to pick up the ball after a successful blitz on turn 14, victory is nigh impossible.

we started bashing every single one of them. they ended the game with like 7 rats to our 10.
I really felt disappointed with the early TD conceded, but I guess the second half cheered me up a bit since i scored a niggling injury on one of them with 2 KO and 3 Badly Hurt.

I really wanted to kill that Gutter Runner with 2 heads.
As in slice it and cook it and feed it to cats.

Otherwise, it was ... ok I guess. We've 6 Blockers now with the 2 promoted linesmen.
And the two injured players are back in training. TV feels bloated at 1370, but we'll see what happens.

It's the greatest fail magnet of all. My advice for pitch control? Once you outnumber your opponent make a point of fouling, especially any opponent that would only allow you your blitz block, if you get 3 assists on AV7 your odds of eviction are similar to their chances of being fouled off the pitch.

You might ask what is the point? But 11 vs 8 is not as much of an advantage as 6 vs 3. Yes the difference is 3 but the impact on the pitch is epic. Fouling can help turn a favourable drive into a landslide.

Ag3 really lies in an ugly place, ag2(skeletons, dwarfs), you don't really try the following dodge, nor ag1(tomb guardian#, saurus'). But Ag3 teases a 66.6% dodge rate, 88.8% with a rerolls, only marginally more than 50% and 75% a zombie can manage.

But there is one ace in the hole all Ag3 players have, they are only one +AG from greatness. AG4 is only needed in slim supply for a huge effect. A single AG4 catcher, thrower or runner will end up being the core of every game plan(unless it's a rotter or snotling then you just expect death). DElves are a great team though. Just ignore assassins, they are pointless until you are trying to ag5 leap stab into guard cages.